Court leaders praise DeLeo’s probation plan

In a joint statement issued today, Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Roderick L. Ireland and Chief Justice for Administration and Management Robert A. Mulligan praised the House speaker for his support of a compromise plan that would keep oversight of the Probation Department within the judiciary, but allow a management professional to serve as court administrator rather than a judge.

Noting that the legislation governing the court’s current management structure was drafted a generation ago, they say they are “always open to incorporating best practices” and “welcome the challenge” of bringing greater management expertise to the non-judicial areas of the system.

We applaud Speaker DeLeo’s efforts to work with court leaders on issues regarding management of the courts. In particular, we appreciate his recognition that judicial oversight of probation is the most effective way to deal with the thousands of sentencing and supervision issues that arise in our courts, and his strong endorsement for keeping the Department of Probation in the Judicial Branch. We also support the Speaker’s recommendations to raise the bar for hiring in Probation and all state entities. The selection of Chief Probation Officers now underway has been thorough and strictly merit based.

As the Speaker noted, we have a shared interest with him in focusing on the best practices in the administration of justice. We are proud of the many reforms that we, and the Trial Court Departments in particular, have made in court management since the Monan Committee issued its report in 2003.

We are committed to improving the management of the courts in every way possible. We also recognize that the legislation that produced the current court management structure was crafted a generation ago. Since we are always open to incorporating current best practices, we welcome the challenge of integrating greater management expertise into the administration of the nonjudicial aspects of our system. We look forward to seeing the details of the Speaker’s proposal and exploring ways in which we might ensure the success of integrating such expertise over time. The judges, clerks, and court employees who serve the public are eager to do so most effectively.